The Web-Portal has been prepared in collaboration with
academics, research and policy-makers of the US and Pakistan universities,
multilateral organisations, non-governmental organisations and various
government departments.

Speaking on the occasion of the launching of RISE, Country
Director WB John Wall said, "Real-time information from the villages is
essential, district-level information is helpful, but details about each and
every village will make sure no one is left behind."

It was stated in a press briefing that the WBís Web
Portal has been designed to provide information about the villages in every
district and even at Tehsil level. It includes information about 727 villages
of Muzaffarabad district and (387 Tehsil) while 494 villages of Mansehra
district (258 Tehsil) in the largely rural North Frontier Province (NWFP) in
Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

The Web-Portal will help in coordination of the logistic
relief efforts on flexible and searchable platform and will provide
information on every village of the affected area, besides providing a
short-term, medium-term and long-term coordination tool.

The portal will operate while using most recent portal
technology to integrate demographic, geographical and satellite images
searchable at village level and overlaid with distances from major roads and
epicentre. It will continuously update information received via fax, phone,
text massaging and through www.risepak.com during eight hours turn around. It
will provide up-to-date damage and relief information about affected villages
from agencies, relief workers, local officials and anyone with access to
immediate village-level data that will critically support the current
coordination of relief.

The portal offers pre-earthquake information showing
village-level demographic and infrastructure, data, major road networks and
the distance of every village from the epicentre of the earthquake.

Each of the 4,000 villages is also listed on a table of
common headings, including everything from the amount of aid received from
agencies working in the area.

John Wall said RISE was truly a remarkable and spontaneous
collaboration by a range of academics and development practitioners.
"This portal will be the key to coordination among donors and relief
agencies, and the WB will certainly use it extensively to plan our follow-up
support to Pakistan," he added.

The web portal is a joint effort by experts from Lahore
University of Management Sciences (LIMES), Harvard University and Pomona
College in the US, the World Bank, Pakistanís National Database and
Registration Authority (NADRA), Mahbub- ul-Haq Human Development Centre, and
Pakistanís largest Internet provider - World Online, which is hosting the
web portal.

"All the latest satellite, geographical and
statistical information at the village-level for the affected areas is now
consolidated in one database," says Aamer Manazoor, Co-Founder and
Vice-President of World Online. "The world-wide collaboration enabled us
to work round-the-clock with the experts in this field", the Bankís
statement added.